Actor found dead at LA home of Canada TV host Stroumboulopoulos

BC personality George Stroumboulopoulos arrives on the red carpet at the 2014 Canadian Screen awards in Toronto, March 9, 2014. Photo by Reuters/Mark Blinch/File Photo

The body of Richard Hong, 41, was found at his house.

An actor has been found dead and apparently murdered at the rented home of Canadian talk-show host George Stroumboulopoulos in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, police and the TV personality said on Friday.

The body of Richard Hong, 41, was found at the house by officers responding to reports of a burglary there shortly after 2 a.m. PT (0900 GMT), said Officer Norma Eisenman, a Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman.

"Officers were directed to a male, an apparent victim of a homicide," Eisenman said, adding that witnesses reported seeing a suspect fleeing the area on foot. That suspect remained at large on Friday evening.

The Los Angeles Times, citing a coroner's spokesman, said that the victim had sustained head trauma. Reuters could not immediately confirm that report with the coroner's office.

"Many of you have seen the reports of a homicide which occurred early this morning in the home I rent in Los Angeles," Stroumboulopoulos said in a post on Twitter.

"I only have a few details but it seems like it was the result of a break in," he said. "The victim was a dear friend of mine, who was staying at my place while I was away. I am heartbroken."

Stroumboulopoulos said that he was sending the message from a plane en route to Los Angeles from New York "so I can be with my friends there, who are also devastated."

Stroumboulopoulos, 44, is best known as the host of a CBC talk show, George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. He has also served as a host on Hockey Night in Canada.